Enough with the Dubai bashing

It’s no secret that the world’s media enjoys watching Dubai squirm under the weight of its debts, and we understand that Dubai bashing articles get lots of hits on the internet. But we genuinely thought that the spate of Dubai bashing articles, which feature the same old criticisms and statistics, was over. We were wrong.

The Daily Mail published yet another article about Dubai, which isn’t a big deal, except that the article features nothing new.

Kipp isn’t in the habit of defending any city, nation or company, but we’re a little tired of articles that criticize for criticism’s sake. If you’re going to criticize, at least use some facts.

The irony is that there is no shortage of facts about Dubai that a journalist can use to write a sound critical piece; but for some inexplicable reason, most journalists choose to stick to the same old story.

If the Daily Mail journalist had done some serious digging, she would’ve found a story about Dubai worth writing about.

The BIG story about Dubai right now is that Emiratis and Expats alike are being lied to by the Boss of this place.

The other BIG story about Dubai is how we can look back to the madness of last year, and feel sick to our stomachs about the amount of greed which has been allowed to run rampant in this place. But that’s another story. Lets stick to the first:

The Boss knows that WE are his finest marketing tools. WE are his expats, his backbone, his local brainpower. We are the ones who skype home, write home, chat to our business colleagues and friends, we are the ones who spread the news about this place. We are the ones asked by our company headquarters, to write prognoses about the UAE for the next 5 or 10 years. People ask me, and I have this pained expression while I lift my shoulders in a sign of maaaaaaybe???

But the Boss cannot or will not give us a straight talking hard plan as to the roadmap of this place. We get a rumour here and a tidbit there, but the only way to get this place back on its feet is to fuel the Real Estate Engine back to life. That does not mean the madness of yesteryear – no, it means getting people here who can build their lives, pay normal rents, have their kids schooled in normal schools, and make this place stable.

The people I am talking about are NORMAL people – we need clarity as to the future of the Residence Visa, the Freelancer Work Permit, Health Plans – we need all the social tools in place which will attract the kind of people who can BUILD a nation, we should NOT cater simply for the tourist.

Your Highness, you need to tell everyone CLEARLY where we are going with Dubai – you will be amazed how quickly all “your” expats will jump to support you. We crave clarity.

Kilgore Trout on October 28, 2009 11:04 am

I completely agree…enough with these Western articles. It is all a ploy to keep their collective foots on our throat so ‘their’ money doesn’t find its way back to Dubai.

Keep trying Daily Mail, the UAE is proud and strong and your silly stats bounce off us like so much silly putty.

PEACE

Yousif on October 29, 2009 10:58 am

What exactly about the DM article (as cheap a paper as it is) is in fact untrue?

Why can’t Kipp Report go and find and publish some real evidence backing up it’s claims about the non-validity of DM’s article, instead of throwing an e-tantrum like this?

or is KippReport just another media tool of the powers that be? Are they trying to show the world media that it won’t take it any more? How? What are you going to do about it?

It’s the Leaders of the UAE who have all the power to do good (or bad, as it were), no one has gotten in their way (as if they would be allowed to), this is all happening under their watch, with their ‘skill;, ‘talent’ and ‘wisdom’.

In fact, i think things are gong exactly according to plan, consistent with the values demonstrated by their actions..

flashy flashy, but no real substance. same applies to everything in D’bay..

Ruby Johnson on November 2, 2009 5:20 am

Dubai gets bashed, coz it has boasted / gloated about being bigger / taller / richer / gleamier than anybody else in the world! Pride goes before a fall…..

Mohammad on November 3, 2009 6:37 am

Well said Yousif.

If someone points out 5 bad points, and one of them is exagerrated, Dubai’s cheerleaders take it upon themselves to deny the other 4 points as well; ” the author is biased and claimed there were 3000 cars at the airport when there were only 300!” So lets pretend there is no racism here, and everyone is treated well, and if you manage to bring proof to the contrary, we will cite how Red Indians and Aborigines were treated……

And its really funny when the cheerleaders turn out to be westerners who are very unwilling to upset the current apple-cart of being overpaid
and enjoying friday brunches.